The mother, urged him to
renounce the monastic life, and return to her, but the boy replied, "I
did not quit the family in compliance with my father's wishes, but
because I wished to be far from the dust and vulgar ways of life. This
is why I chose monkhood." The uncle approved of his words and gave
over urging him. When his mother also died, it appeared how great had
been the affection for her of his fine nature; but after her burial he
returned to the monastery.
On one occasion he was cutting rice with a score or two of his fellow-
disciples, when some hungry thieves came upon them to take away their
grain by force. The other Sramaneras all fled, but our young hero
stood his ground, and said to the thieves, "If you must have the
grain, take what you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of
charity which brought you to your present state of destitution; and
now, again, you wish to rob others. I am afraid that in the coming
ages you will have still greater poverty and distress; - I am sorry for
you beforehand." With these words he followed his companions into the
monastery, while the thieves left the grain and went away, all the
monks, of whom there were several hundred, doing homage to his conduct
and courage.
When he had finished his noviciate and taken on him the obligations of
the full Buddhist orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and
strict regulation of his demeanour were conspicuous; and soon after,
he undertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the
Vinaya-pitaka. What follows this is merely an account of his travels
in India and return to China by sea, condensed from his own narrative,
with the addition of some marvellous incidents that happened to him,
on his visit to the Vulture Peak near Rajagriha.
It is said in the end that after his return to China, he went to the
capital (evidently Nanking), and there, along with the Indian Sramana
Buddha-bhadra, executed translations of some of the works which he had
obtained in India; and that before he had done all that he wished to
do in this way, he removed to King-chow (in the present Hoo-pih), and
died in the monastery of Sin, at the age of eighty-eight, to the great
sorrow of all who knew him. It is added that there is another larger
work giving an account of his travels in various countries.
Such is all the information given about our author, beyond what he
himself has told us. Fa-hien was his clerical name, and means
"Illustrious in the Law," or "Illustrious master of the Law." The Shih
which often precedes it is an abbreviation of the name of Buddha as
Sakyamuni, "the Sakya, mighty in Love, dwelling in Seclusion and
Silence," and may be taken as equivalent to Buddhist. It is sometimes
said to have belonged to "the eastern Tsin dynasty" (A.D. 317-419),
and sometimes to "the Sung," that is, the Sung dynasty of the House of
Liu (A.D. 420-478). If he became a full monk at the age of twenty, and
went to India when he was twenty-five, his long life may have been
divided pretty equally between the two dynasties.
2. If there were ever another and larger account of Fa-hien's travels
than the narrative of which a translation is now given, it has long
ceased to be in existence.
In the Catalogue of the imperial library of the Suy dynasty (A.D. 589-
618), the name Fa-hien occurs four times. Towards the end of the last
section of it (page 22), after a reference to his travels, his labours
in translation at Kin-ling (another name for Nanking), in conjunction
with Buddha-bhadra, are described. In the second section, page 15, we
find "A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms;" - with a note, saying that it
was the work of the "Sramana, Fa-hien;" and again, on page 13, we have
"Narrative of Fa-hien in two Books," and "Narrative of Fa-hien's
Travels in one Book." But all these three entries may possibly belong
to different copies of the same work, the first and the other two
being in separate subdivisions of the Catalogue.
In the two Chinese copies of the narrative in my possession the title
is "Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms." In the Japanese or Corean
recension subjoined to this translation, the title is twofold; first,
"Narrative of the Distinguished Monk, Fa-hien;" and then, more at
large, "Incidents of Travels in India, by the Sramana of the Eastern
Tsin, Fa-hien, recorded by himself."
There is still earlier attestation of the existence of our little work
than the Suy Catalogue. The Catalogue Raisonne of the imperial library
of the present dynasty (chap. 71) mentions two quotations from it by
Le Tao-yuen, a geographical writer of the dynasty of the Northern Wei
(A.D. 386-584), one of them containing 89 characters, and the other
276; both of them given as from the "Narrative of Fa-hien."
In all catalogues subsequent to that of Suy our work appears. The
evidence for its authenticity and genuineness is all that could be
required. It is clear to myself that the "Record of Buddhistic
Kingdoms" and the "Narrative of his Travels by Fa-hien" were
designations of one and the same work, and that it is doubtful whether
any larger work on the same subject was ever current. With regard to
the text subjoined to my translation, it was published in Japan in
1779. The editor had before him four recensions of the narrative;
those of the Sung and Ming dynasties, with appendixes on the names of
certain characters in them; that of Japan; and that of Corea.
